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BLOG 3/52

19 Friday Dec 2025

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HOW HAVE YOU KEPT A GOOD ATTITUDE?

When my mother passed away in 1969, I was devastated. I wrote this to help me
live my life like I knew she would have wanted me to. It has been my guide ever since. It has worked.

MY CREED
It is today, not tomorrow.
This is today; yesterday is history.
Every morning when I wake up, it will be today.
I will start each of my todays with a positive attitude.
I will not criticize anything, as it has accomplished nothing.

I refuse to utilize my time on things that accomplish nothing.
Today, I have one thing in which I know I am equal with others: time.
We all draw life’s paychecks in hours, minutes, and seconds, no favorites.
Today, I will not waste any of the time I have been given.
The minutes I wasted yesterday are already too costly to me.
Today, I refuse to use my time worrying about what might happen.
Instead, I’m going to utilize my time by working to make good things happen.

Today I am determined to improve myself.
For tomorrow, someone may need me to help them.
I must work hard today so I will not be found lacking tomorrow.
Today, I must accomplish something and not waste any of my limited time.

Today I will do the things I should do.

Today, I will stop doing things that I feel are harmful to me.
By the end of each week, I will be a better person than when I started.
My worth to myself and others is directly proportional to how I use my time.

Things in my world are not different.
I will not imagine what I would do if they were.
I will make the most of my life with what I have now.
I will arrange my schedule to make the most of my talents.

I will take time for my people.
I will not wait till tomorrow to say, “I love you.”
I will treat everyone I encounter in life as a true friend.
If I do these things, it will be a good day for me and those around me.
I DID THE BEST I COULD. I HOPE IT WAS AS GOOD AS I SHOULD.

(In 2026)

To my mother, Alice

I loved you as much as possible in my younger years,
But I didn’t appreciate all you did for me
Until I was an old man,
Looking back on my life.
You died way too young for me to tell you
How much I loved and needed you in my life.
You gave me the foundation that I live by.

You taught me how to handle my daily
Chores and how and why it was
Important to appreciate
Every one of them
To have a life
Worth living

I still judge whatever I do
Against the standard
Would my mother
Be proud of me

I thank you with all my heart and love.
JOHNNY Reseck Jr

Alice visits Siem Reap, Cambodia

(This is very special, written by my son JR III in Cambodia
At the age of 68, he recalled his grandmother from his childhood.

Maybe 1965,
in that double wide
a hundred yards from the ocean sand,
My father’s mother used both arms to shake it up, then
levered two sharp triangular holes,
the normal way back then,
opposite each other
into the top of that big tin can
that held the pineapple juice,
and poured some into a glass just for me.
It’s now more than fifty years
since then,
and I’m alone
in a Cambodian apartment
eight thousand miles from anyone I love,
tipping up a paper and plastic carton, pouring out some last drops of that same sweet tropical memory,
grateful for the heart she watered and grew in me, and the one who still visits
but I just no longer see.
12 April, 2025
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Love you,
By
John Reseck III

IT IS DANGEROUS TO GIVE ME THE QUIET TIME TO THINK

02 Sunday Mar 2025

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I AM A TREE who can’t read, so I don’t know what kind of tree I am. I can see many other trees around where I live, but I don’t look like any of them. I must be special.

 I go to work every morning at sunrise and spread my leaves to face the sun as much as possible to catch the solar rays and get my engines running. I have an important job; I create oxygen from carbon dioxide in the air.

It has taken many years for me to create enough leaves to make a difference large enough for humans to measure, but they are getting better at it now.  They are frightened by what they call global warming.  I help them as much as I can by reducing carbon dioxide, which holds heat on the earth, warming it.

All humans are rather ignorant. That means they lack the information to make wise, informed decisions about things. It is OK to be ignorant because all humans are ignorant about 99.9% of their surroundings. Human knowledge is only a grain of sand on the beach of knowledge.

Being stupid is not OK. That means you have the knowledge available to make a good decision but don’t use it. These humans are killing my cousins in the forest. They are building new houses to live in and to burn in the fireplace for warmth. They don’t seem to understand how hard trees work for them. Sun-up to sun-down, we work for them.

We also work hard for other animals like birds. They build their homes in our branches and raise their babies.

The shade we provide is enjoyed by all the animals and we also protect farms so heavy winds will not destroy their crops and use our roots to hold the soil in place.

We keep the ground cool when it is hot. And that helps humans with global warming.

The children that climb in my branches have a great time, laughing a lot and building good muscles.

I hope they don’t cut me down. I may be safe because I’m the only tree in this part of the park and if I am killed, all the things I do every day won’t be done here in this place.

I’m only 40 years old now and I can still work for about another 100 years or more. My death would be a big loss to this community in the small picture, as well as to the world in the big picture.

I love to live and help my environment survive. My leaves dance and sing their songs in the wind to calm those who sit in the shade I provide.

Please pass the word that I’m not dead yet and don’t want to be.

Be a tree, not a bush. Stand strong. Use your talents. YOU ARE SPECIAL.

If you are reading this, YOU’R NOT DEAD YET, don’t act like you are.